by Avery Gale
Looking up at her face, he saw her cheeks hollow, and Tucker’s head once again fell back on his shoulders.
“Sweet cheeks, if you don’t want to swallow, you’d better let go.” A split second later Tucker swore a blue streak worthy of the sailor he’d once been. Before Brock would comment, his brother shouted his release, and Mia’s body stiffened beneath his, triggering his own trip into sweet oblivion.
Brock couldn’t remember the last time he’d been blindsided by a release. He was known for being able to hold back until the woman he was with had come at least three times, but watching Mia pleasure his brother had tipped him over without warning. The last fragments of his mind were all that kept him from rutting her like an animal. When he’d finally spent himself into the condom, he collapsed onto her, barely catching himself on his forearms so she wasn’t flattened by his weight.
“I think I flew through heaven, but I’m not sure I’ll live to tell about it. Holy fucking hell, baby,” Brock’s voice was surprisingly coherent considering every single one of his brain cells was refusing to function.
Tucker stretched out beside her and lay staring blankly at the ceiling.
“If that’s inexperience, she’s going to kill us when she figures it all out. Not that I’m complaining. Hell, I’m looking forward to death by pleasure.”
When he thought his legs would hold him, Brock slowly slid from her pussy and smiled at the aftershocks quaking through her sex.
“Don’t tempt the beast, baby.” Leaning down, he gave her a quick kiss before stepping into the en-suite bathroom to dispose of the condom and wet a warm cloth. She made token protests when he cleaned and dried the tender tissues, but Tucker’s warning growl kept her from moving.
Her eyes fluttered open when he returned to the bed, and the sweet smile curving her lips made his heart squeeze in his chest.
“That was remarkable. Can we do it again?” Brock blinked at her in surprise and laughed.
“Damn straight, baby. But let’s let your body rest a bit so you’ll be a better judge of what might be too much.”
“That’s right, Kodak. If we made love to you now, all those lovely endorphins floating around in your blood might inhibit your ability to recognize pain.”
“I thought that was a good thing? All the books I’ve read talk about how pain and pleasure are two sides of the same coin.” Mia’s ability to think, when his own brain was numb, was damned impressive. Brock would have said as much if he’d been able to think clearly enough. Damn, the woman had fried his brain.
“You’re right, but Brock stretched all those unused tissues, and right now, it would hard for you to distinguish between the sweet pain that leads to pleasure and pain that’s supposed to serve as a warning to avoid injury.” Tucker’s explanation was dead-on, but Brock could only nod in agreement as he pressed himself against her back. She’d rolled against Tucker, using his shoulder as a pillow, and Brock loved the feeling of her sandwiched between them.
Looking over her, Brock watched Tucker gently push back the dark strands of her hair that had fallen over the face. The tender look in his brother’s green eyes filled Brock with hope. Maybe the ice was finally cracking around his heart.
Chapter Fourteen
Sam McCall stood outside the doors of the Intensive Care Unit of the sprawling medical center in the middle of Medellin, Colombia, watching the firestorm he was married to charm her way into Lucia Mendez’s personal physician’s heart. The man had been steadfast in his refusal to tell Sam anything about Mendez’s condition, so Sam brought in the team’s secret weapon, Jen.
Jen worked for the State Department before joining the Prairie Winds team, and after being posted in South America, she easily assimilated into the varying cultures. Of course, the fact the prick she was conning was focused on her tits instead of her words wasn’t helping the doctor maintain his resistance either. Sam and his younger brother Sage were both married to Jen, and at this moment, Mendez’s personal physician owed his life to the fact it was Sam and not Sage standing back, watching him drool over what belonged to them.
When Sam saw Jen pat the other man’s forearm, he knew she’d gotten the information she’d wanted and probably an invitation to dinner if she was true to form. Damn, the woman was fucking amazing even if she was sometimes a hazard to herself and others. There was a good reason the team had nicknamed her Miley—she was a wrecking ball in a gorgeous package.
She was grinning ear to ear when she stepped out of the double doors, and he pulled her to the side and sealed his lips over hers before she had a chance to speak. By the time he let her go, she was shaking in his arms, and the other men in the waiting room were taunting them to get a room. When he finally let her go, he chuckled at the dazed look in her eyes.
“You kissed everything right out of my brain, husband mine. How’s a girl supposed to act like a cool operator when you steal her mind?”
“I’m more interested in the hot woman hidden under the façade of a cool operator. And that doc was risking his life looking at you that way.” When her cheeks turned pink, he chuckled. The woman had two husbands, and they enjoyed a very active ménage sex life, but she still blushed at his compliments. Damn, she was fucking perfect.
“Mendez was definitely poisoned, but it doesn’t appear the attack was intended to kill him. Which makes me wonder if he wasn’t being used as bait to lure his granddaughter home.” Sam agreed and was already dialing his phone when she added, “The doctor mentioned Mr. Mendez woke up once, and the only word they could understand was Cam. They believe he was talking about a camera of some kind, but I’m guessing he was referring to Cameron Barnes.” Sam raised a brow at her while he waited for the call to connect, and she rolled her eyes. “No, I didn’t tell him. Geez, I’m not a dimwit, you know.” He gave her a feral grin and held up one finger. He was keeping track, and that eye roll just cost her a trip over his knee.
Damn it’s great to be me.
*
Joseph Moreno hung up the phone and cursed. According to the surveillance video, his boss had been taken to the hospital not long after Joseph had left the mansion, but that wasn’t the problem. The fucking problem was the half hour of erased video from every camera around the sprawling estate. Their system was state-of-the-art, so it had taken someone with considerable skill and damned good equipment to hack into the feeds, erase only the portion that would have helped identify them, then back out without a trace. There weren’t many people locally who could have accomplished it, and those who could have, wouldn’t have bothered. And to top it all off, Lucia’s personal physician was refusing to return his calls. Joseph wasn’t being given any information about the man’s status, and he was getting damned tired of getting the runaround.
Looking around Lucia’s office, he noticed the old man’s cell phone was missing, but could probably attribute that to one of the emergency medical personnel who’d responded to the anonymous call placed from a burner phone. If someone outside was helping the old man, the question was who? And why?
Suddenly remembering the drink he’d slipped the drug into, Joseph searched the room for the glass but didn’t find it. Calling to the housekeeper, he inquired if she’d taken anything out of the office since arriving this morning, and she explained she hadn’t cleaned the room yet. The calls he’d made to the ambulance service had ended in the same stonewalling he was getting from the hospital staff. He’d sent men to both locations with cash and for the first time in years, money had failed to yield answers.
Whoever was calling the shots was obviously throwing a lot of money into keeping Lucia’s condition quiet. If it was the cartel, it was likely they had the same plan he had—to flush out Mia. But every feeler he’d put out was coming up empty—it defied logic. Something told him the man who’d delayed setting sail until Mia and her knights-in-fucking-shining-armor could board was involved in this, but the only thing Joseph knew about him was the name he’d used to charter the boat was an alias. Walking out of Lucia�
�s office, Joseph felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, and he’d been a soldier long enough to heed the warning. It was time to find out who the players were, and the only way to do that was to get his hands on Mia Mendez.
Chapter Fifteen
Mia sat bolt upright in her chair and stared at the man sitting across from her as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. The same words kept replaying in her mind. Grandfather. Hospital. Poisoned.
“I have to go back.”
“No,” Brock and Tucker spoke at the same time from either side of her, and Cameron Barnes’ smile annoyed her more than it should have. CeCe leaned against the desk beside her husband flipping through several pages of what looked like a medical report, but she hadn’t so much as flinched at the outburst from the Deitz brothers.
“Yes. I’m his only living relative, and he needs me. I’m sorry if that doesn’t fit your agenda, but I don’t see that I have any choice. I’ll catch a flight when we reach Cozumel tomorrow.”
She could feel the frustration pulsing around her and briefly wondered if it was her own or if it was coming from the scowling men flanking her. CeCe continued to read, and her husband studied Mia as if she were some kind of mystery to be solved. There were a couple of other men she didn’t recognize standing to the side of the small room, but it was Carl who broke the silence.
“Mia, let me play devil’s advocate for a minute. Let’s say I knew you had suddenly disappeared and my boss was breathing down my neck to bring you in. What would be the best way for me to lure you back out into the open?”
“Cane toads.”
He blinked at her in surprise before a slow smile spread over his face.
“I bet your grandmother put her foot down on cursing, didn’t she? Damn, that’s great, and for the record, I know those little critters are nasty pieces of work.” He gave her a minute to consider what he’d said, then pressed on, “You didn’t answer my question, sweetie, and I suspect it isn’t because you don’t know the answer.”
Oh, she knew the answer all right, but she was loath to admit he was right. Dammit.
“Hurting my grandfather would be the best way to get me to return to Colombia. But this seems like a lot of fuss just because I sent Senator Tyson’s pictures to his wife.”
She could understand the man’s captors being pissed she’d helped him escape, but there wouldn’t be anything to be gained by bringing her back. She’d already shared the best of the pictures. When she said as much, Cam cleared his throat to get her attention.
“Perhaps I can explain.”
CeCe placed her small hand on her husband’s forearm, causing him to shift his attention to her.
“Before you get into all the minutia of the soldier and spy games, let me put Mia’s mind at ease about her grandfather. She’ll be able to think with a clear head if she’s not worrying about him.”
“Pet, soldiers do not get into minutia.” Mia almost laughed at the horrified look on Cameron’s face. “Soldiers and operatives deal with facts and details. Not minutia.”
Turning to Mia, CeCe smiled, and Mia almost laughed at the wicked gleam in her eyes as she carefully set the stack of papers aside.
“Whoever slipped him the drug wasn’t trying to kill him. The toxicology report shows a low-level of a drug intended to imitate the symptoms of a heart attack without causing any real damage. I suspect he’d only ingested a small amount when he talked to Cam, who—being the brilliant man that he is—made your grandfather promise to not eat or drink anything else until help arrived.”
“So, he’s going to be okay?” For the first time since she’d walked into the room, Mia felt a tiny bit of tension drain away.
“Absolutely. Even worst-case scenario, your grandfather will be out of the hospital in a day or two, depending on how cautious his physician is.” Mia knew her grandfather’s doctor, and he might be an arrogant ass, but he wasn’t a fool. The good doctor would be damned careful with the man who paid him an exorbitant amount of money for minimal health care.
“Thank you.” Sagging with relief, Mia felt like a marionette whose strings had just been cut. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know he’ll be okay. We may not always see eye to eye, but I do love him to distraction.” Returning her attention to Cam, Mia looked down and realized Brock and Tucker were each holding one of her hands. They’d lent her their strength even when she hadn’t realized how much she needed it.
Turning her attention back to Cameron Barnes, Mia spoke, “You said you might be able to explain why someone would be anxious to lure me back to Colombia. Can you tell me what you meant?”
*
Brock noted Mia hadn’t referred to Colombia as home and from the quick flair in Tucker’s eyes, he knew his brother hadn’t missed the small but significant slip as well. It made him wonder if she wasn’t secretly relieved to be out from under her grandfather’s thumb. Only time would tell.
Cam cleared his throat and let his eyes connect briefly with Brock’s. At his quick nod, Cam began explaining what he’d briefed Brock and Tucker on early this morning while Mia was still sleeping.
“You mentioned you sent Tally the best shots you’d taken of her husband, and from what we found on your electronics, you did.”
“You went through my camera and laptop? How did you access my computer files?” Brock wasn’t sure if she was angry at the invasion of her privacy or curious about how they’d broken her password.
“Mia, I learned a long time ago people often miss important peripheral details because they are focused on their goal. You were looking for the best pictures of Senator Tyson, and those were the details you focused on. What you didn’t see in a few the shots you’d taken were other people. Other people who weren’t important to you because you were focused on the man chained in the center of the compound. You’d been following the rumors about an American being held, and when you found him, you mentally zeroed in on him—but your camera was looking at a much larger picture.”
Brock saw Mia’s blue eyes flicker with understanding, and he could practically hear the whirl of her thoughts as comprehension washed over her. Cam must have seen the same response because he smiled at her indulgently.
“I do so love that spark of intelligence in a woman’s beautiful eyes. I see that in my lovely pet’s eyes all the time, and it fills me with pride knowing the brilliant woman behind those sparkling eyes belongs to me. Your Masters are very lucky men, Mia.”
Cam’s compliment sent a pretty pink stain over her cheeks, but some of the tension drained from her muscles, and Brock knew that had been part of Cam’s goal. Cameron Barnes could be a ruthless son of a bitch, but he was also a seasoned operator and interrogator who knew the value of a few well-placed words of praise.
“Are you saying I took pictures of someone who is worried enough about being exposed, they’d hurt my grandfather?”
“Not exactly. We believe General Moreno was responsible for poisoning your grandfather, and we believe he has a different motive for wanting to keep you close.”
Mia’s entire body went deathly still. Hell, she even stopped breathing until Brock leaned close and said, “Breathe, baby.”
Everyone on the team agreed there was something amiss between Mia and the man charged with her family’s security, but so far, they hadn’t been able to find any clues what the problem might be. If the retired general had pressured Mia for a romantic relationship, Brock wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold Tucker back, but his gut told him that wasn’t the real issue between them.
“I’ll kill the pickle licker with my bare hands,” Mia’s response startled everyone in the room except for her new friend whose roar of laughter earned her an embarrassed smile from Mia.
“Damn, I like her so much. Can we keep her, Master?” CeCe’s sweet words brought chuckles from around the room. Cam’s indulgent smile as he pulled CeCe down for a quick kiss gave everyone a chance to take a breath.
“It’s a lovely idea, pet, but I’ve
gotten the idea Brock and Tucker might have other plans for her.”
Damned straight, we do.
*
Mia hadn’t been kidding about wanting to wrap her hands around Joseph Moreno’s wrinkled throat. The only problem was it would require her to get closer to him than she ever intended to be. Maybe she’d use a baseball bat. Although that wouldn’t allow her to feel his struggle to breathe. Damn, her fiery temper was going to get her in trouble if she wasn’t careful.
When Tucker turned to her, his green eyes were so pale with anger, she instinctively leaned away from him. His hard expression softened immediately, and she knew he hadn’t been angry with her but had simply picked up on her own powerful emotions.
“I’ll kill him myself if he hurts you, sweet cheeks. There won’t be a hole on this planet deep enough for him to hide in. Later, we’re going to be asking a lot of questions about why you don’t trust him, but right now we have bigger fish to fry.”
She remembered reading an article once about American slang and their strange expressions, but she didn’t recall anything being mentioned about cooking fish. Before she could ask, CeCe spoke up.
“Bigger problems.” Mia’s expression must have given away her confusion, because CeCe added, “The fish fry thing… it means there are bigger problems to deal with first. Don’t ask me why, but most southern expressions involve food or sports.”
Mia made a mental note to do a little research later on southern expressions. If she was going to Texas, it would be useful to speak the language… and evidently, English wasn’t the only language spoken there. Giving CeCe a quick nod of thanks, she turned her attention back to Cam.
“Okay, what other fish are you planning to fry?”
His entire expression shifted between one second and the next, and Mia felt the photographer in her sit up and take notice. God in heaven, how she would love to capture that fleeting expression on film. She’d gotten a glimpse of a much younger and more carefree man than the one who’d been studying her so closely every time they’d met. The man she’d seen so briefly was fun loving and overflowing with intellectual curiosity. He loved learning for the simple joy of discovering new things. And before she could stop her train of thought, Mia knew those were the same things she’d seen in Brock and Tucker’s eyes when they’d made love to her the night before.
